LANSING, MI -- Michigan lawmakers and law enforcement officials are hoping to find common ground on long-debated bills that would allow for regulated medical marijuana dispensaries and edible medical marijuana products.

Similar legislation passed the House by wide margins last session before flaming out in the Senate. But new bills, reintroduced in February, appear to have more momentum.

"I do believe that it's possible that by the end of the year, we'll have laws in place to ensure everyone has a safe product they can get at a dispensary," said state Sen. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge. "Something they know has not been sprayed with bug spray or has mold on it."

Jones, a former Eaton County Sheriff, has been critical of Michigan's medical marijuana law and has voiced concerns with dispensary legislation in the past.

But Jones said his office is now working with the Michigan Sheriffs' Association, the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police and other law enforcement groups "to see if there's something they can support."

Both groups opposed similar dispensary and medical edible legislation last year, circulating a letter to lawmakers in December as the Senate considered taking up the bills during the lame-duck session.

"Our meetings have been fruitful. There's been a healthy dialogue about treating medical marijuana as more of a pharmaceutical," said Terrance Jungel, a former Ionia County Sheriff now serving as executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs' Association. "If you're going to call it a medical product, then treat it as a pharmaceutical and have strict controls."

State Rep. Mike Callton, R-Nashville, who reintroduced dispensary legislation in February, worked on the proposal with Michigan State Police last session but made it a point to reach out to other law enforcement groups earlier in the process this time.

"I've been working on these bills four years. That's how long it took me to get my master's degree," Callton said Tuesday. "It's become one of the epic tasks of my life. It has been metamorphic and dynamic. These are not the same bills we started with."

Michigan's medical marijuana law, as approved by voters in 2008, established a system of licensed patients and caregivers but did not directly address dispensaries or edible products. A series of court cases have clouded the legal status of both.

Callton's proposal, as introduced, would allow "provisioning centers" to sell extra medical marijuana grown by caregivers after testing for quality and contaminants. Local governments could choose to ban provisioning centers or limit the number of storefronts.

Supporters say edibles are a healthier alternative for patients who do not want to smoke, but law enforcement officials say it is difficult to identify products infused with marijuana and how much of the active drug they contain.

"You can't uncook the brownie," said Jungel. "Not to mention the fact that brownies appear to be brownies whether they have marijuana or not. The potential for edibles to be misused, abused or mistaken for regular food is of great concern."

Michigan voters have already spoken on medical marijuana, Jungel noted, but the law enforcement community wants a potential update to include various safeguards, such as product packaging and background checks for dispensary employees.

Callton said he believes there is room for compromise on various fronts.

"Let's say they pull someone over in a car who has a medicine bottle of marijuana," he said, providing an example.

"They want to be able to know the marijuana belongs to this person, where it was grown, where it was tested and what provisioning center it came from. You can do that with bar codes now, and I think a system like that would definitely make them happier."

The Michigan Supreme Court, in an early 2013 ruling, empowered county prosecutors to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries as a "public nuisance," but similar businesses have continued to operate in many communities.

Similarly, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that "pot brownies" are not a usable form of marijuana allowable under the medical law.

The court rulings "don't make any sense" and have limited options for legitimate patients, according to state Rep. Jeff Irwin, D-Ann Arbor, who is co-sponsoring both of the reintroduced medical bills.

"I think there's a lot of energy building behind those bills, because we need to fix those laws," said Irwin. "There's such a compelling argument to be made on behalf of the sickest people who the law was really meant for."